Team chosen for 13-acre Zaryadye Park

A consortium led by New York-based Diller Scofidio + Renfro has been announced as the winning team in a competition to design a major new park in Moscow. The competition brief - published by WAN’s Business Information Service - requested architecture and landscaping design concepts for a contemporary park and high quality, year-round infrastructure for the city.

The winning announcement for the Diller Scofidio + Renfro-led team was made by Moscow’s Chief Architect Sergey Kuznetsov, who said: “A chance to hold a competition and realise a project at a site as important for Moscow as Zaryadye is a once in a lifetime opportunity.

"I am happy because of the firm attitude of Moscow Mayor Sergey Sobyanin international competitions are becoming a common practice for Moscow, and through them we choose really great projects that when realised could achieve the world-best level. This is the only way for Moscow to join the ranks of world architecture capitals.”

As Kuznetsov notes in this statement, the location for the new Zaryadye Park is a prime development site only a minute’s walk from Red Square and the Kremlin. The 13-acre site is enclosed by a high fence, rendering the wasteland a ‘forgotten zone’ despite its status as the most expensive land in Moscow. It is envisioned that the new Zaryadye Park will be a green continuation of the Red Square, with estimates for project cost ranging between $171m and $230m.